The Death Of Naruto Uzumaki
by LunarFlare14
Summary: In the war with the Village Hidden in the Bones there were many casualties. The greatest, was the young shinobi, Naruto Uzumaki.
1. Numb

Sakura's Grief

The whole village had turned out to pay their respects. Sakura wasn't aware of any of them. All she saw was the casket as it was brought to the grave. Jiraya, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Choji, Lee, and Gai, were carrying it and set it on the lowering mechanism. They all joined Tsunade around a podium. There were few dry eyes among them, even Shikamaru had a few tears strolling down their cheeks. Sakura stood on shaky legs, still unsure how she was standing up at all. Hinata was inconsolable, her usually quiet sobbing in Kiba's arms and barely standing herself. Kiba just stroked her hair. She vowed never to cut it again because the last thing Naruto said to her was he liked her hair long. He was only eighteen. That was the thought that kept coming back. It was then Tsunade's turn to say something. She began the speech the way the Hokage always does when a shinobi dies in combat.

"People of the Leaf Village. Let us not mourn this lose. He was a shinobi of honor and loyalty who died doing his duty. He..." Everyone looked up. Tsunade hung her head, hiding her face. Tears hit the ground and she collapsed. Jiraya rushed to her and she clung to him as he lifted her back to his feet. He didn't let go of her as she turned back to the mourners "He was such an idiot." that sent a chuckle through the crowd, "He was loud and impatient and crude, he ate way to much ramen, and was always complaining. Not an ounce of common sense in him." there were somber nods of acknowledgment. "But he loved this village. And he wanted to protect it... He died to protect it. His teammates were the only ones to survive. He was only eighteen and still... Such a child. It shows that the Hidden Bone village truly had no mercy when they slaughtered our warriors." Her hand went to her chest and she clung to the pendant. "I will miss him so much. I was going to pick him as my successor. Yeah, you heard me, alright. Naruto Uzumaki, the sixth hokage!" She let out a laugh that was more like a sob, wiping her eyes, "It may sound silly to you but... It was his dream. Two other men I cared for had the same dream. I just don't know why they all die!" She pounded the podium causing it to break into a pile of wood chips, "WHY!?" She then turned back to Jiraya who'd begun to cry as well, "Why do they all die?" No one else spoke after that. There were no words to better describe it.

Sakura looked around, Neji was staring blindly at the ground, his white eyes puffy and red. He must have run out of tears. He was still using crouches from his injuries. Over the past year or two, they'd become close. With the war and all, Sakura was stationed in the hospital. Neji had been reassigned to Kakashi's squad. The long bloody battles had brought the boys closer and they were soon inseparable, even when on leave back in the village. He looked bad enough to be in the grave himself. Tenten was comforting Lee who was almost as bad as Hinata, as he cried out the laments of lost youth. Gai didn't even join his former student. He had an arm around Kakashi, who looked like he hadn't slept in days. Gai was mumbling something but it looked as if her old sensei wasn't listening. She felt as numb as her sensei looked. Cut off from the grief she saw around her. She was sure it would sink in later, but she couldn't cry. Naruto had told her, just days before that no one would miss him when he was gone. She'd called him an idiot. Said he had no idea. She was right. But it was something she never wanted proven. Her heart was broken, she was sure of it. She couldn't sleep, or keep anything down. Maybe she was dying too. It wouldn't surprise her, the way her heart felt like it was bleeding into her insides. Slowly they lowered the casket into the grave and suddenly, she lost control. She ran forward. She didn't remember what happened next. Throwing herself into the grave, Lee catching hold of her, her calling out his name. Kakashi and Ino had to help keep her from flinging herself after her teammate. She cried out for him to come back. Afterward, they said she kept muttering, "They left me, both of them left me all alone, why? Why would they? I loved them. That's all I ever did..." Later she became aware again. Ino had an arm around her friend, a look of the deepest sympathy in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ino." She whispered.

"It's okay, Sakura. Grief is a hard thing. To each 'is own."

"I'm not very good at it." They had finished covering his grave with dirt now. Everyone was dispersing. Soon it was only Ino and Sakura. "Will it get better soon?" Ino shook her head. Sakura gave her a weak smile, "You couldn't just lie to me?"


	2. Miserable

Hintata's Grief

"It's okay Hinata, really. Naruto wouldn't want you to be this upset." Kiba was still trying to soothe the Hyuuga heir. Until now all her replies had been to soft and muffled to hear. Her first audible response all day came clear as a bell.

"You couldn't possibly understand, Kiba!"

Kiba let her go, surprised. Hinata had never yelled before. He recovered surprisingly quick, "I do. You were in love with him." It was her turn to step back. She hadn't expected that, "It's okay to be sad. It's okay to cry. Just don't let it rule you forever... Okay?" She nodded.

She hugged him, "He was everything to me."

"I know. Don't try to follow him, okay? Try to live again. Live for him."

Despite that Hinata cried well into the night, soaking the pillow all the way threw. The shattered pieces of her broken heart felt like knifes in her chest. Her sobs echoed down the hall, sending everyone in the house into an uneasy sleep. By midnight she had run out of tears, and had a terrible migraine. Slowly, as not to disturb her family she wandered toward the kitchen, in desperate need of some herbal tea. She pasted Neji's room, but when she looked inside it, the bed wasn't slept in. It worried her, and she quietly went to her father's study, where he spent most of his nights nowadays. "Father?" She called softly.

"Come in."

She opened the door just enough to get through, then she shut it silently. She bowed, "Sorry to disturb you but..."

"Yes, go one." He was use to prying information out of his eldest.

"Neji isn't in his room. I'm worried. He didn't look well."

"That is true. I'm very surprise, Hinata. I thought, with your own pain. You wouldn't notice Neji's. I am very proud."

Hinata looked down, eyes swelling with tears again, "It's nothing. We've lost someone very close to us. Neji and Naruto had become close friends over the past couple of years." She wiped them away, "Neji has always suffered in silence. I fear for him."

"Then maybe you should look for him. I last saw him at the funeral." She nodded and left. Her worry for Neji had pushed aside most of the pain for now. She had a hunch where he was though. Hinata approached Naruto's grave. Neji laid beside the fresh pile of dirt. It almost made her burst into tears again, not for herself, but for him. It was so tragically pitiful. She covered him with a blanket she'd brought and sat, leaning against the smooth stone of the tombstone. He looked so tired, lines were forming on is feminine face. He probably slept little all week. She'd heard him toss and turn but her own sadness had put his on the back burner. Guilt clawed at her heart and she fell into a fitful sleep.


	3. Lost

Neji's Grief

_Kakashi was carrying Neji on his back. Neji had injured his legs, and was panicking. He, cool as a cucumber Neji, was terrified. Kakashi was done. He'd used all his chakra. Naruto was at his limit too, Neji could see the blue chakra draining from him. The Hidden Bone ninja were still on them. There must have been a hundred of them. One hundred against one. Naruto stopped running, looking at Kakashi and Neji. They stopped too. It was then Neji knew what he was going to do. "No!" _

_Naruto turned to face, the dozens of ninja coming their way, "Get him out of here, Kakashi."_

"_I'm not leaving!" Neji cried over the roar of the approaching force._

"_Now!" He then summoned that red chakra, and threw himself into the heart of the oncoming warriors._

"_No!" But Kakashi had turned and leapt in the opposite direction. "No!" Neji scrabbled trying to get his legs to struggle with the rest of them. "Let me go! Let me go after him, you coward!" Kakashi didn't look back. They stopped a mile away, Kakashi put him down, then without a word ran back toward Naruto. Neji got on his knees and began to crawl after them. Before he was even fifty feet away, a trail of blood in his wake, Kakashi returned, with the blonde in his arms. "Naruto!" Panic set in, as Kakashi laid him down on the ground next to him. He struggled to keep his calm. Those bright blue eyes looked up at him and smiled. He didn't have to say a word. Neji smoothed the blond hair, stained with blood._

"_Last bastard got in a lucky blow." Neji let out a nervous laugh, it was short and raspy, "I'll be fine."_

_Neji's eyes filled with tears, "Liar."_

Neji awoke where he remembered falling asleep. Right next to Naruto. He sat up and a blanket fell to his lap. Hinata was asleep against the grave marker. He crawled to her and nudged her gently. She opened her eyes and smiled, "You're up."

Neji nodded, "Hinata?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sad."

"Me too."

He sat back on his haunches, unable to say anything. His throat closed up, and it was hard to breath. He felt so alone next to his cousin and it made him feel guilty. He'd built up so many walls, and they all had crumbled with the loss of Naruto. It was time to remove that last brick. He needed someone right now. Who shared his grief, who could help him back to the light the way that blue eyed boy use to. He needed a companion. "I need to tell you something. I think you're the only one who can understand. I've kept a terrible secret from you. From our family. I have to tell someone or I'll burst. I have no one to confide in because of it. Please let me lean on you. I need this. I've never asked anything and I'll never ask again." Hinata nodded, confused. "Promise you won't hate me." He sounded like a child admitting he'd been bad. But there was some true sincerity in it. He truly thought she'd hate him. He was about to cry.

She rolled her eyes, "Alright. I won't hate you."

"Me and Naruto... We..." He looked at the grave and took a breath. "We were... lovers."

Silence. Five long, excruciating minutes of total, deadpan silence. Suddenly she throws her arms around her cousin's waist. Neji who was about to cry, blinked in disbelief, "Hinata?"

"Look at me, wallowing in my self pity. Oh, Neji forgive me! I didn't see it. I swear if I did I would have-"

"Hinata! Don't you see! I've committed a major sin! I've slept with a man, loved a man, held a man, touched a man! Uncle would never forgive me! He'd never-" He cut himself off. "I've sent Naruto to hell. The purest person I know is going to hell and it's all my fault." He returned Hinata's hug. He'd never been so close to his cousin, let alone a girl. But the need for comfort, for companionship was far to great. "Hinata... Why don't you hate me?"

"Because you made Naruto happy. I thought it was just your friendship, but you gave him your heart. That means the world to me that it put that spark I saw in him back. I loved him to Neji. As much as I wanted him to love me back, I preferred him happy."

"You don't think it's wrong, because we're both-"

"No. Not if you loved him. There's to much hate and suffering in this world. I think love should be encouraged. No matter who it is between. Life is to short not to give all the love we can." She sighed, relaxing for the first time. "What did he say?... Before he died, I mean."

"He said he loved me deeper. Better. More."

"More than who?"

That caused the tears to overflow, "Sasuke..." He let out a short sob, "I'd never said I feared he hadn't let him go. Never aloud, anyway. I still can't believe he knew." He squeezed her, "I'm such an idiot!..." He sighed, "You're a good person Hinata."

"You are too. I wish I could help."

"You have... You do. You're here aren't you. You could have just left me alone."

"No I couldn't. I know what it feels like to be alone. I don't think I could ever let someone feel that way."

It was then Neji saw it. A note, and an urn with S.U. and a fan engraved in the side, were on the gravestone.


	4. Suicidal

Sasuke's Grief

Neji let go of his cousin and picked up the paper. It read:

_Sasuke Uchiha_

_Lived not five minutes after the news of Naruto's death. He drew his sword and stabbed himself and instructed us to bring his ashes here. His final words: _"I'll never get to where he's going. Not if I begged forgiveness. That should be punishment enough."

Neji ripped the paper into pieces. His face expressionless he set the urn atop the marker and used his chakra to fuse the two kinds of stone together. It welded the urn in place. Hinata stood next to him helping support him on his unstable legs, "That's big of you."

"It's like you said... There's to much hate and suffering in this world."

**That's the funny thing about 'grief'. We all handle it differently. Some people move on easily. They bounce back like a ball...**

The Leaf Village moved on. Sakura hooked up with Lee and had two kids; Izumi and Rock Lee Jr. Kiba and Hinata married, staying on as ninjas for the remainder of their lives, having many children together. Tsunade pasted the title on to Konohamaru after marrying Jiraya. Kakashi had two more sets of students. They all remember Naruto fondly, but the heart ache slowly faded, as they learned to celebrate their memories of him.

**And then there are others...**

Neji became the head of the Hyuuga house hold. Soon after his night at Naruto's grave he appealed to Tsunade to be released from duty as a shinobi. Neji never had another lover. Naruto was the love of his life and no matter how much time went by, he always knew deep in his heart he'd never love that much again. He tried to live each day with as much life to it as he could. He was, after all, living for two. On his death bed, his last request was to be buried along side Naruto. To the day he died he carried around that pain. His last words, whispered as his cousin held his hand, "I hope he's waiting for me..."


End file.
